GAES project: Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context EEC/SEE/2006/004 GAES project: Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context Prepared for EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre by: GAES Extern project team under ISA Software Contract: Authors: ENVISA: Sandrine Carlier, [email protected] Ayce Celikel, [email protected] Nicolas Duchene, [email protected] QinetiQ: Chris Eyers, [email protected] Gary Mepsted EUROCONTROL Project Manager: Frank Jelinek: [email protected] EEC Note: EEC/SEE/2006/004 © European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation EUROCONTROL 2006 This document is published by EUROCONTROL in the interest of the exchange of information. It may be copied in whole or in part providing that the copyright notice and disclaimer are included. The information contained in this document may not be modified without prior written permission from EUROCONTROL. EUROCONTROL makes no warranty, either implied or express, for the information contained in this document, neither does it assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this information. GAES project - Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The “Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context” study is part of the EUROCONTROL SEE GAES-Extern project and was initiated in order to assess the potential environmental benefits of fuel cell usage in aviation. The initial objective of this report was the evaluation of the impacts of the replacement of gas turbine Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) by fuel cell powered APU. However, due to the large variety of fuel cells available, and its variety of use in the airports, the scope of the project was widened to include also other applications than APU. As a consequence, a thorough literature review has been performed which highlights the potential benefits of fuel cell usage in the aviation context, besides APU. The APU usage is part of the aircraft emissions. Thus, for environmental considerations it is important to improve the efficiency by reducing the fuel burn and emissions. Fuel cells provide a good solution for both economical and environmental improvements; however the technology is still under development for a widespread use. The report consists of literature review of fuel cell technologies, their specific applications in airports, APU fuel cell replacement case study and following results and conclusions. From the literature review of fuel cell types in airports, some representative parameters such as emission factors are found in order to estimate the emissions. Then a case study is developed which focuses on the replacement of traditional APU by fuel cell APU. A European airport where the traditional APU data exist is used as a case study to evaluate the benefits of using fuel cells in terms of fuel consumption and emissions. The case study defines three scenarios likely to occur at the case study airport. Pollutants considered are NOx mainly even though CO and HC have also been estimated. Fuel burnt is also reported with special interest. The use of fuel cell APU is expected to induce a fuel consumption equal to one third of a traditional gas turbine APU, reducing thereby the emissions. Moreover the fuel cell technology is such that no NOx are generated. Another finding was the need to develop further the fuel cell technology so that its performances reach an acceptable level. At the moment, there are a number of issues such as the weight and the volume of fuel cells, as well as their relatively short lifetime and their expensiveness which need to be solved. However, the environmental benefits of fuel cells are likely to increase among the aviation actors especially if aviation is to be included in an EU emissions trading scheme. EEC/SEE/2006/004 iii GAES project - Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context (This page intentionally blank) iv EEC/SEE/2006/004 GAES project - Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Reference: Security Classification: SEE Note No. EEC/SEE/2006/004 Unclassified Originator: Originator (Corporate Author) Name/Location: Society, Environment, Economy EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre Research Area Centre de Bois des Bordes B.P.15 91222 BRETIGNY SUR ORGE CEDEX France Telephone: +33 1 69 88 75 00 Sponsor: Sponsor (Contract Authority) Name/Location: EUROCONTROL EATM EUROCONTROL Agency Rue de la Fusée, 96 B –1130 BRUXELLES Telephone: +32 2 729 90 11 TITLE: Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context Authors : Date Pages Figures Tables Appendix References EEC Frank Jelinek. 03/06 50 15 9 - 44 ENV-ISA Sandrine Carlier, Ayce Celikel, Nicolas Duchene. QINETIQ Chris Eyers, Gary Mepsted. EATMP Task Project Task No. Sponsor Period Specification - GAES - 2005-2006 Distribution Statement: (a) Controlled by: EUROCONTROL Project Manager Frank JELINEK (b) Special Limitations: None (c) Copy to NTIS: YES / NO Descriptors (keywords): Fuel Cell – APU – hydrogen – hydrogen issues – aircraft emissions – APU emissions – Airport Local Air Quality – airport – aviation etc. Abstract: This document investigates the possible use of fuel cells in the aviation context and the benefits of using such systems. It is divided into two main parts: • an exhaustive literature review presents fuel cell applications focusing on the current and future APUs types; • an APU case study is then developed. EEC/SEE/2006/004 GAES project - Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context (This page intentionally blank) vi EEC/SEE/2006/004 GAES project - Potential Benefits of Fuel Cell Usage in the Aviation Context TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents...................................................................................................... 7 List Of Tables ............................................................................................................ 8 List of Figures ........................................................................................................... 8 ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... 9 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 History ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Issue and Scope ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Fuel Cell Technology........................................................................................................ 2 1.1.3 Advantages of Fuel cell .................................................................................................... 2 1.1.4 Fuel Cell Implementation Considerations......................................................................... 3 1.2 Fuel Cell Application to Airport Activities.................................................................................. 4 1.3 Project Approach ...................................................................................................................... 5 2 LITTERATURE REVIEW...................................................................................... 6 2.1 APU, GPU and Fixed Electric Ground Power (FEGP) ............................................................. 6 2.2 APU Emissions......................................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Fuel Cells.................................................................................................................................. 9 2.4 Fuel Cells Applications in the Airport Context ........................................................................ 12 2.4.1 Auxiliary Power Unit........................................................................................................ 12 2.4.2 Airport Power Plants ....................................................................................................... 13 2.4.3 Airport Special Vehicles & Airside Road Vehicles.......................................................... 16 2.5 Hydrogen Economy................................................................................................................20 3 CASE STUDY..................................................................................................... 23 3.1 Method.................................................................................................................................... 23 3.2 Emission amount = APU operating time x emission factor .................................................... 23 3.2.1 Emission factors ............................................................................................................. 23 3.2.2 Statistical reliability .........................................................................................................25 3.2.3 Scenarios Definition........................................................................................................ 25 3.3 Summary of the Case Study .................................................................................................. 27 3.4 Results.................................................................................................................................... 28 3.4.1 Evolution of emission over one year – GT APU